Strategy Decisions
50+ recent decisions
Support Nathan CVE-first prioritization over the Google minimal-kernel delivery; own the customer comms
Jul 9, 2026 · strategy · medium80% confidence
Nathan flagged that in-flight critical local-privilege-escalation CVEs collided with the committed 6.18 minimal-kernel delivery to Google and called for CVE remediation to come first. Peter backed that call rather than making it: agreed to a bounded slip (no more than a week, not three), was comfortable asking the team to work a weekend to verify already-built patches, and took personal ownership of communicating the slip to Google - framed as value-add (surface only the CVEs Google benefits from), not an apology. Peter wrote and sent the explanatory email to Tissa and the Google team the same day.
People: Peter Nelson, Nathan Blackham, Justin Haynes, Bjorn Hovland, Kelly Hall
Reinforce that an automated Linux CI/CD pipeline is one of the top-3 H2 company objectives
Jul 7, 2026 · strategy · medium72% confidence
Peter had already set an automated Linux CI/CD pipeline as one of CIQ three top company objectives for H2 (base decision not previously captured). In the Max 1:1 and Engineering Weekly he reinforced to people that it is there and that it is critical to Linux delivery - a company objective, not just a Nathan-team objective. Logged as reinforcement.
People: Peter Nelson, Max Spevack, Nathan Blackham, Justin Haynes
Gate Rakuten 8.6 / RT-kernel support work on a signed 1.6 to 1.8M expansion that funds dedicated headcount
Jul 6, 2026 · strategy · medium80% confidence
Decided that the risky, currently unsupportable Rakuten 8.6 / RT-kernel support work will either not be done at all or only be delivered tied to a signed contract expansion in the 1.6 to 1.8M range that funds dedicated Rakuten headcount on CIQ side. The bar is enough to cover roughly two dedicated engineers, not an arbitrary large number. Peter forwarded the engineering teams infrastructure objections to Bjorn to arm the customer conversation.
People: Nathan Blackham, Bjorn Hovland, Jonathan Maple
Everfox desktop-OS: require explicitly scoped and funded eng-investment before supporting the deal
Jun 30, 2026 · strategy · medium66% confidence
On the Everfox desktop-OS deal, Peter framed it as a fundamentally different business (be like Ubuntu while also being like RedHat, not add desktop support to Rocky) and insisted the unknowns around hardware enablement / driver support and a dedicated lab be made explicit. His engineering-side conditions: the MSA must fix the hardware scope with out-of-scope hardware priced separately, and CIQ should proceed only with an explicit commitment to fund the engineering regardless of revenue. He tasked Max to assess technical feasibility with Nathan before committing. Relates to the prior logged Everfox decision d1ea8ed9; this is the engineering-stewardship condition layer.
People: Bjorn Hovland, Nathan Blackham, Ramesh Srinivasan, Max Spevack, Suzanne Spencer-Purcell
Champion Kubernetes-by-CIQ as an H2 engineering deliverable (build on the standard)
Jun 30, 2026 · strategy · medium55% confidence
Peter is actively pushing for a CIQ-branded Kubernetes offering, built on the standard rather than reinvented, to be an H2 engineering deliverable that eliminates a recurring objection in sales conversations. He green-lit Chris Wolford putting Kubernetes by CIQ on his H2 doc. It fits the broader turnkey/easy-button vision (single installable image combining Rocky Hardened plus Fuzzball substrate). Peter acknowledges final product prioritization authority sits with Bjorn/Product; his action here is advocacy and engineering-roadmap steering, not a prioritization decree.
People: Max Spevack, Chris Wolford, Bjorn Hovland
EU Cyber Resilience Act - scope hinges on legal definitions; Bjorn to engage lawyers; aim to publish our own definitions
Jun 18, 2026 · strategy · medium74% confidence
On the CRA thread (raised by Leigh Hennig re a Sept 11 deadline for RESF/Rocky/CIQ), Peter directed that the entire scope hinges on two definitions - vulnerability and actively exploited - and delegated Bjorn to engage lawyers to weigh in. Strategic aim: ideally CIQ/RESF publishes its own definitions, reframing CRA compliance as living up to our stated market promises rather than being exposed to outside interpretation. Until legal responds, nothing to do.
People: Bjorn Hovland, Greg Kurtzer, Leigh Hennig, Brady Dibble
Hold the margin line - willing to walk from bad-economics deals (currently applied to Rakuten)
Jun 18, 2026 · strategy · medium72% confidence
In his 1:1 with Baek, Peter articulated a generalized stance and named its current target: stop playing the tell-the-customer-yes-to-anything game, and hold a hard line even if it means losing the deal. He will not spend 2M to capture 400K. He confirmed this is a generalized principle that at this moment absolutely applies to Rakuten as those negotiations finalize.
People: Chris Baek, Ramesh, Bjorn Hovland
Reject centralized AI governance and access-guardrails on internal AI tools - optimize adoption and transparency, accept eventual leakage
Jun 18, 2026 · strategy · high77% confidence
In the Brian/Brady sync Peter took a firm stance and described a past deliberation he had already resolved: he considered building protections so Mini-Me could not leak personnel and decision info, and decided NOT to. More broadly he rejected Brian Dawsons pull toward centralized applied enterprise AI coordination - teams should deploy their AI-built tools without approval (told Brady to just ship Cairn and expose the agent-to-agent endpoint without routing through Okta), and he would rather pay the eventual cost of a leak than slow adoption. He asked Brian to write down what he is afraid of so the fears can be weighed against each other.
People: Brian Dawson, Brady Dibble, Stephen Moody
Veeam CVE-escalation response: tell the honest intentional-tradeoff story, diagnose via Dickerson first
Jun 18, 2026 · strategy · high86% confidence
Ahead of a 5 AM Monday call with Veeam on a roughly 1M deal Bjorn flagged as at-risk, Peter set the response strategy. Tell Veeam the honest story: CIQ made an intentional trade-off (criticals 9-plus, known-exploit CVEs, and high-8s are handled; behind on some low-7s) because it is investing in CVE automation to handle the coming flood, and this is NOT a reaction to being caught. Step one is to reach out to Dickerson first to learn Veeams actual expectations and what specifically unblocks their signature. Nathan owns the technical scanner-nuance explanation (stack-protection downgrades, scanners scoring off non-Red-Hat CVEs).
People: Nathan Blackham, Max Spevack, Dave Dickerson, Bjorn Hovland
Set kernel-independence north star; justify RESF-CIQ pipeline convergence investment as the path to it
Jun 17, 2026 · strategy · medium74% confidence
In the C-Suite Sync, after conceding to Bjorn that CIQ must keep racing Red Hat on critical CVEs today (customer parity is a non-negotiable sales requirement for Citadel, Rakuten, Veeam), Peter named an explicit north star: a future where CIQ is far less tightly bound to the Red Hat kernel via an opinionated, upstream-first posture. He validated with Greg and Bjorn that this is a real future option, then framed the present-day decision as investing now in the RESF and CIQ pipeline and tooling convergence as the infrastructure that makes the north star reachable later. He was explicit that this changes nothing for customers today.
People: Peter Nelson, Gregory Kurtzer, Bjorn Hovland
Gate NVIDIA/Spark announcement on engineering supportability — eng-only until then, then hand to GTM
Jun 12, 2026 · strategy · medium76% confidence
With NVIDIA engagement happening at very high levels over the next week, Peter decided to say nothing publicly and not pre-announce anything until CIQ has something it can support — something it would actually ship and point a customer at the support org for. Until then the Spark/Rocky-on-Spark work stays purely engineering (get it on Nathan, Wolford, Westley, and Peter own Sparks; validate it works), explicitly not a Bjorn/GTM item. Once it is supportable, GTM is unleashed.
People: Max Spevack, Bjorn Hovland, Nathan Blackham, Chris Wolford
Intent to move Ascender to Zorina with dedicated headcount; stays under Justin for now
Jun 12, 2026 · strategy · medium80% confidence
Peter decided the direction for Ascender (and Ascender Pro; Ledger Pro pending a Bjorn confirmation): move it under Zorina as a clean, dedicated product home, with headcount Peter has secured for Zorina to hire a team (Bay-Area-first, lightly). For now Ascender remains under Justin — NOT Nathan — and the move to Zorina is directional intent, not yet executed. Larry and Jimmy (original engineers) move to sales-support under Bjorn. Intent is to productize Ascender like any other shippable product rather than leave it an orphan.
People: Zorina Simeonova, Justin Haynes, Bjorn Hovland, Brianne Clasen
Prioritize RLC 10.2 to the top, drop AI+H work — and validate the JPD deprioritization as correct
Jun 12, 2026 · strategy · high88% confidence
After a Citadel-driven escalation (10.2 needed for a ~$200k contract + expansion), Peter pulled Nathan, Justin and Max into a 5-minute call, made 10.2 priority-one for Linux eng above RLC AI and H work (only 3 critical CVEs rank higher), and was willing to drop other work if needed. He then posted an actionable timeline range to #department-heads (inner bound Fri 6/19, outside June 30, gated by CVEs). Crucially, he endorsed that the team had correctly deprioritized 10.2 per the JPD board and framed the whole episode as a communication failure (Bjorn got a single June-30 date without the range/assumptions), NOT an execution failure.
People: Nathan Blackham, Justin Haynes, Max Spevack, Bjorn Hovland, Brady Dibble, Brian Dawson, Melissa Kivisto
Kill follow-on Icicle patents — finalize the single Icicle filing only
Jun 8, 2026 · strategy · medium66% confidence
Peter decided not to pursue the secondary/follow-on patent filings around Icicle (Know Your Workload / Kernel Control Authority family) and to have Ani Fox finalize only the one Icicle patent already in flight, before the issuance/filing window closes. Closes a months-long open question on whether to use the remaining window to add follow-on patents.
People: Ani Fox Bochenkov, Nathan Blackham
Mandate CIQ build/test pipeline converge with the RESFs — one unified project, Nathan accountable, coordination over speed
Jun 5, 2026 · strategy · high88% confidence
Peter laid down a mandate that CIQs Linux build/test pipeline will become functionally identical to the RESFs over time — a single consolidated project rather than parallel tooling. Nathan drives and is held accountable for closing the CIQ-to-RESF gaps (hardware parity, cut over to Koji, mirrored build infrastructure, a full validation framework that runs PR-specific tests). Justins build world must sign on and use it everywhere. Ryans gauntlet/outfitter tooling and Leighs RESF-side work are welcome only if they plug into the one project rather than forking. Peter explicitly chose coordination over speed even though it slows Ryans faster build-it-now instinct.
People: Peter Nelson, Nathan Blackham, Justin Haynes, Ryan Smith, Greg Kurtzer, Leigh Hennig
Product owns prioritization of everything in the JPD
May 29, 2026 · strategy · high82% confidence
In the Friday 5/29 Brian/Brady weekly sync, Peter closed the loop on a multi-week doctrine arc by making explicit that the JPD board is not just for net-new product work — it owns prioritization of EVERYTHING engineering does, including what feels like sustaining/KTLO/Bridge bug-fixing. If product wants something to receive engineering effort, it has to take a numbered slot on the JPD board. Anything not on the board should be assumed to receive zero engineering attention, and product owns that tradeoff in real time. Peter explicitly named a posture shift from Socratic teaching to directive (do-it-this-way) because the prior rounds of teaching had not landed.
People: Brady Dibble, Brian Dawson
RHEL patching support: same-day customer-facing document with explicit Ubuntu carve-out
May 27, 2026 · strategy · medium82% confidence
Peter wrote and shared a Google Doc same-day (within 32 minutes of the Leadership Roundtable action item) outlining CIQ Engineerings agreed scope for supporting RHEL patching. Sent to Bjorn and Ramesh for review with the intention of forwarding to Art for customer-facing use (lead-gen + knowledge-transfer). The doc explicitly does NOT cover Ubuntu — Peter made the Ubuntu carve-out explicit in the DM thread when Ramesh raised Canonicals different model.
People: Bjorn Hovland, Ramesh Srinivasan, Arthur Tyde, Lindsay Aamodt
Peter Computex condition: product must be production-ready, not a POC
May 27, 2026 · strategy · high82% confidence
For the proposed early-June Computex Fuzzball-on-DGX-Spark announcement, Peter set one engineering-side condition: the product must be production-ready (not just a POC). Bjorn separately set the GTM-cadence gates (max 6-week lag between announcement and delivery; sufficient PR-runway for Lindsay and Cathay). Peter held the engineering line cleanly and let Bjorn hold the product-marketing line.
People: Bjorn Hovland, Wesley, Scott Hara, Lindsay Aamodt, Chris Wolford
Reward Yesh for responsible disclosure — CIQ first-ever bug bounty
May 26, 2026 · strategy · medium90% confidence
When Yesh (pentestine@gmail.com) reported a ciq.com vulnerability on 5/21 via email, Peter responded within minutes to Steve Wallace and Bjorn: I would like us to reward here to encourage this behavior. He immediately forwarded the bug detail to Justin Haynes for the fix and aligned with Steve on severity. The reward is still pending execution as of 5/26 — this is the first bug bounty CIQ has ever paid.
People: Steve Wallace, Bjorn Hovland, Justin Haynes, Yesh
Firewall Greg AI prototyping team — company makes no plans against their output
May 26, 2026 · strategy · high91% confidence
Peter explicitly framed Gregs AI prototyping work as a separate research division that the rest of the company cannot bet on. No items show on the value drivers board for this work; nothing is committed to customers; deliverables are not on engineering plans. If they emerge with a usable nugget, fine — Wolfords or Nathans team will productize it. Until then, planning treats the team as if it does not exist.
People: Greg Kurtzer, Chris Wolford, Bjorn Hovland
Ascender ownership moves to Nathan org with possible Zarina-led sister team
May 26, 2026 · strategy · high90% confidence
Peter decided Ascender does not stay parked between Jimmy and Larry as a half-supported side-project — it needs a real owner. Not adding a direct report to Peter; not adding to Justin who is at his limit. Lands in Nathans org. Possible structure: a sister group under Nathan (parallel to Justins org) for customer-facing delivery — would hold externally-facing Depot AND Ascender, led by Zarina, with one new engineer hired in for Ascender work. Decision contingent on Zarinas current Depot-Sodor commitment and the Wesley situation resolving.
People: Nathan Blackham, Justin Haynes, Zarina, Larry, Jimmy, Wesley, Bjorn Hovland
Rakuten RFQ prioritized over Board prep + vulnerability response — scope-discipline enforced at line-item level
May 19, 2026 · strategy · high91% confidence
After conferring with Bjorn 5/15 afternoon, Peter reordered the week to put Rakuten RFQ response above both Tuesday 5/19 board prep and continued kernel vulnerability work. Held the boundary against scope creep in the submission itself: stripped runc nohz_full / ACC100 commits (Reqs 19, 37, 10, 38), scrubbed AI-generated CIQ Rapid Security Patch SLO Framework (48h/72h/14d commitments), softened Validated-for-[hardware] to Supported-on, kept RT kernel position to vmcore-dump-analysis-plus-recommendations only — no hands-on-keyboard custom patches. Deal size is $2M/year per Ramesh — different business with Rakuten than the existing engagement.
People: Bjorn Hovland, Nathan Blackham, Ramesh Srinivasan, Suzanne Spencer-Purcell, Howard Van Der Wal, Wes McGrew
CVE response strategy — three-pillar overhaul (process + tooling + strategic kernel review)
May 12, 2026 · strategy · high91% confidence
In Engineering Weekly Sync, Peter operationalized the 5/11 Leadership Roundtable vuln-handling commitment into three concrete pillars: (1) Chris Baek to restructure the embargo/CVE comms doc with Jamie, separating process from tooling/templates; (2) tooling strategy — Peter commits to email Greg requesting Claude Opus 4.7 whitelist for CIQ accounts AND to set up unbridled internal LLM models on Fuzzball for vuln investigations; (3) schedule strategic kernel philosophy review for early June, with Nathan and Justin to provide a list of downstream automation efforts to prioritize.
People: Chris Baek, Jamie Brooks, Nathan Blackham, Justin Haynes, Steve Wallace, Greg Kurtzer, Bjorn Hovland
Open strategic review of RLC/RLK identity + upstream binding (Dirty Frag triggered)
May 12, 2026 · strategy · high78% confidence
Saturday 5/9 in #department-heads, in immediate response to Justin's Dirty Frag status table and Nathan's note about CIQ patches being shared with the RESF, Peter announced he wants the leadership team to take up a strategic question next week: what recurring vulnerabilities imply about CIQ's kernel posture, how tightly to bind to upstream, how to work with the RESF, and what it means going forward to be RLC and RLK. Aimed at framing input for the mid-to-late June LA in-person product-strategy session with Bjorn and Greg.
People: Peter Nelson, Greg Kurtzer, Nathan Blackham, Justin Haynes, Bjorn Hovland
Commit engineering to vuln-handling infra/automation at Leadership Roundtable
May 12, 2026 · strategy · high92% confidence
At the 5/11 Leadership Roundtable, Peter accepted an explicit action item to prioritize vulnerability-response infrastructure and automation work in engineering, and to update Chris Baek as the interim process owner. The commitment converts the 5/8 internal-to-engineering commitment (build/test infra to eliminate reactive interrupts) into a cross-functional commitment with Bjorn, Greg, Chris, and Lindsay in the room.
People: Peter Nelson, Greg Kurtzer, Bjorn Hovland, Chris Baek, Lindsay Aamodt
Reject open-ended LGU+ RHEL/OEL support commitments — best effort only
May 8, 2026 · strategy · high94% confidence
Nathan surfaced (via Justin) a CIQ <> LGU+ contract proposal requiring CIQ to provide workarounds and answer customer SR tickets for RHEL 6 (already EOL), RHEL 7/8/9, and OEL 6/7. Peter intervened in the same-day group DM with Bjorn, Art, and Ramesh to draw the line at best effort only — no commitments to deliver workarounds or answers. Asked Nathan if it is not yet in force so he can get in front of it before signing.
People: Nathan Blackham, Justin Haynes, Bjorn Hovland, Arthur Tyde, Ramesh Srinivasan
Prioritize build/test infrastructure to eliminate reactive engineering interrupts
May 8, 2026 · strategy · high94% confidence
After Dirty Frag CVE took Linux engineering offline for 24 hours, Peter committed to prioritize building robust build/test infrastructure as the proactive response. Told Brady/Brian this requires Product leadership to de-prioritize other work to make room. Surfaced publicly in #department-heads thread asking how to structure infra for the new normal of AI-assisted exploit cadence.
People: Brady Dibble, Brian Dawson, Nathan Blackham, Justin Haynes, Bjorn Hovland, Greg Kurtzer
Ask Bjorn to deliver ARR/dilution/Series-B rationale to engineering org
May 7, 2026 · strategy · medium83% confidence
Committed to ask Bjorn to clarify the link between doubling ARR (to $20M), Series B funding with minimal dilution, and employee stock value — to be delivered in All Hands or in Peters org meeting. The intent is for Bjorn to walk the team through the knife-edge: failure forces more investor funding with significant dilution; success enables Series B with minimal dilution and a clear path to profitability.
People: Bjorn Hovland, Ryan Smith
Three-tier Rakuten kernel proposal — 8.10 preferred, 8.6 sustaining, $800k-$1M PS for full 8.6
May 4, 2026 · strategy · high87% confidence
Push Rakuten to migrate RLC 8.6 to 8.10. Three-tier proposal: (1) preferred — full support on 8.10 with CIQ vendor coordination to accelerate hardware recertification; (2) alternative — sustaining support on 8.6 with no new patches/backports (security risk on Rakuten); (3) PS engagement — $800k-$1M/year to fund two dedicated kernel engineers for full 8.6 support, framed explicitly as Professional Services cost not mainline engineering. June renewal is the forcing function. The original handshake-pricing deal with Tarek is void.
People: Ramesh Srinivasan, Suzanne Spencer-Purcell, Nathan Blackham, Greg Kurtzer
Everfox: require ~$2M front-loaded year-one payment, reject back-loaded $600k structure
May 4, 2026 · strategy · high93% confidence
Peter is requiring a large upfront payment ($2M floor with the proposal team; $4-6M float with Greg) for the new Everfox custom work (legacy CPU support, custom desktop) and rejecting the back-loaded $600k year-one structure. The $20M/10-year deal will be restructured to front-load payments, potentially by reducing total contract value if needed. CIQ will not absorb non-reusable engineering work without immediate funding.
People: Ramesh Srinivasan, Suzanne Spencer-Purcell, Bjorn Hovland, Greg Kurtzer, Nathan Blackham, Brady Dibble
Engineering veto required on custom deals and new lines of business
May 4, 2026 · strategy · high92% confidence
Peter is implementing a formal process where Engineering has review-and-veto authority on custom deals and new lines of business. Engineering must be consulted to assess cost and feasibility before any deal is finalized. Discussed in Peter <> Chris 5/1 and applied immediately to the Everfox proposal restructuring on 5/4.
People: Chris Baek, Bjorn Hovland, Ramesh Srinivasan, Suzanne Spencer-Purcell
Ryan to POC AI-driven Veeam image builder, gated on Justin-approved test suite
May 1, 2026 · strategy · high85% confidence
Ryan will POC an AI-driven image builder, starting with Veeam, that automates custom image builds, testing, and documentation. Hard gate: AI-generated images must pass a Justin-approved test suite to prevent hallucinations. Long-term vision: a 'Chipotle line' image configurator letting users compose custom, repeatable builds from validated components.
People: Peter Nelson, Ryan Smith, Justin Haynes, Jamie Brooks, David Gomez, Jamin Maple
Ship CIQ kernel patch with extra fix; contribute upstream; race to be first/best on CVE response
May 1, 2026 · strategy · high92% confidence
Linux kernel CVE response: CIQ shipping 10 fixes vs CentOS Stream's 9 (CIQ found and is fixing an extra issue related to the CVE). Extra commit submitted upstream to centos-stream and acknowledged for inclusion. CIQ pushing to be first EL distro to release, with primary goal of customer reassurance and secondary goal of public proof point that CIQ contributes to security and is large enough to serve big customers. Also pushing patches to RLC kernels as fallback in case RH doesn't move quickly.
People: Peter Nelson, Nathan Blackham, Justin Haynes, Joseph Tate, Bjorn Hovland, Greg Kurtzer, Dave Dickerson, Lindsay Aamodt, Steve Wallace
Send IAG/Sam an operational due-diligence note on Raven Resonance (Thomas Suarez)
Apr 29, 2026 · strategy · medium74% confidence
After spending an hour with Thomas Suarez at Raven Resonances office during IAG Summit Apr 28, Peter wrote and sent Sam at IAG a structured operational assessment covering supplier pipeline, BOM, roadmap, manufacturing risk (including possibility of Raven-owned China manufacturing), photonics dependency, test facilities, hiring/culture, financials, capital plan. Conclusion: Theres a real company here. Forwarded the same note to Thomas for transparency.
People: Sam (IAG), Thomas Suarez (Raven Resonance)
Expand Atomicorp partnership scope to absorb compliance load CIQ will not staff
Apr 27, 2026 · strategy · high80% confidence
Peter directed deeper integration with Atomicorp specifically to avoid investing in internal HR/headcount around compliance. Atomicorp will carry as much of the compliance load (STIG, FIPS, audit, certification, ongoing attestation work) as they are willing to absorb, freeing CIQ from staffing a dedicated compliance function.
People: Nathan Blackham, Atomicorp (external)
Defer ARM64 Pro Hardened build until Core42 commits — group decision Peter endorsed
Apr 27, 2026 · strategy · high78% confidence
In Apr 26 Sovereign AI response review meetings, the team — with Peter participating — decided the response language to Core42 will acknowledge that Pro Hardened on ARM64 (and FIPS-143 ARM certification) is contingent on a client commitment, not unilateral CIQ investment. ARM64 build estimated weeks not months once committed; FIPS-143 ARM is ~$200k / 4-6 months and gates on a deal commitment. Peter explicitly told the room: "We are going to need Nathan to say when. I am not going to be able to say on this call."
People: Bjorn Hovland, Brian Dawson, Brady Dibble, Nathan Blackham, Adam Jackson, Peter Nelson, Erik Grundstrom (Core42)
Core42: pivot from Fuzzball sale to full-stack compliance partnership
Apr 18, 2026 · strategy · high92% confidence
After the Core42 Tech Dive Part 2 surfaced Core42 wants a single OS vendor for their full UAE compliance stack (NIST 800-53, BIS, IDAM, physical security) across three EOY-2026 GPU clusters, Peter immediately convened an internal Impromptu Zoom to reposition the opportunity. CIQ will propose a comprehensive partnership framing CIQ as the only group that can provide all requirements, with RLC Pro Hardened + Fuzzball + Ascender as the core stack and partners filling the remaining ~20%. Consultative play: CIQ will advise Core42 on which requirements in Eric Grundstrom's doc would cause unacceptable performance degradation vs. which can be met. Nathan to draft the proposal doc by EOD Saturday so CIQ can deliver an answer by Monday.
People: Peter Nelson, Bjorn Hovland, Greg Kurtzer, Adam Jackson, Nathan Blackham, Brady Dibble
Reframe Azure relationship — CIQ supports RLC, not all of RESF
Apr 17, 2026 · strategy · high80% confidence
Directed Justin to align with Kelly on Azure messaging, clarifying that CIQ supports its own RLC offering (not the entire RESF ecosystem). Protects Nathans team from unbounded support burden while preserving the January 2027 contract renewal opportunity.
People: Justin Haynes, Kelly Hall, Nathan Blackham, Karl Abbott (Microsoft)
Committed CVE categorization + kpatch estimates to Google by Monday
Apr 17, 2026 · strategy · high82% confidence
After Tissa agreed no one can answer Madhus blanket questions, committed CIQ to deliver a CVE-type classification table with kpatch coverage estimates by Monday. Reshaping an unanswerable request into a structured, defensible answer by category.
People: Tissa (Google), Madhu (Google), Nathan Blackham, Justin Haynes, Max Spevack, Bjorn Hovland, Kelly Hall
Set Sales Scope Discipline on Nokia Opportunity
Apr 15, 2026 · strategy · high75% confidence
In MPDM with Adam Jackson, Bjorn, Greg, and Jonathon, set firm boundaries on product scope for the Nokia deal. CIQ should sell what it has and is good at, not build custom solutions to close individual deals. The bar for adding new capabilities is company-level strategic pivot territory — not deal-level customization. Stated 'enough money is a LOT' and 'its not going to be for another 500k, or just to close the deal.'
People: Adam Jackson, Bjorn Hovland, Greg Kurtzer, Jonathon Anderson
Escalated Google/NVIDIA Rocky messaging discrepancy to Bjorn
Apr 14, 2026 · strategy · high65% confidence
Peter flagged in Leadership Roundtable that Google is giving NVIDIA conflicting information about Rocky Linux usage. One Google contingent confirmed usage to Peter/Bjorn/NVIDIA last week, while a separate contingent is now telling NVIDIA Rocky is not being used. Peter escalated to Bjorn for same-day resolution.
People: Bjorn Hovland, Nathan Blackham
Agreed to Uber Value Drivers Framework for Strategic Clarity
Apr 11, 2026 · strategy · medium55% confidence
Agreed with Bjorn and Chris Baek to restructure value drivers into a two-tier system: 'Uber Value Drivers' (Theme/Epic level) that group related granular drivers. This resolves the tension between strategic clarity (too many granular items fail to communicate corporate strategy) and operational granularity (engineering/marketing need precise items to sync on).
People: Bjorn Hovland, Chris Baek
Set Lab-to-Production Boundary — Nothing Ships Without Engineering Productization
Apr 11, 2026 · strategy · high73% confidence
Established with Bjorn that nothing from Greg's Innovation Group/Lab (Cedric) goes directly to production. Everything must pass through Engineering for productization, validation, and integration with build/signing pipelines. CIQ does nothing with RLC-Performant until the lab produces something viable.
People: Bjorn Hovland, Greg Kurtzer, Cedric
Defended Global Prioritization Model with Per-Team Computed Views
Apr 11, 2026 · strategy · high79% confidence
Convinced Greg that product prioritization must remain a single global list, not grouped by team. Agreed to add a computed property showing priority within each team for visibility. Fuzzball was reprioritized into top 20 in Exec meeting; Greg's remaining concern about Fuzzball not being high enough was resolved via the global+computed-property approach.
People: Greg Kurtzer, Bjorn Hovland, Brady Dibble, Jonathon Anderson
NVIDIA Partnership - Resource Commitment for Grace Vera Patch Support
Apr 9, 2026 · strategy · high82% confidence
Committed to assessing headcount needs for NVIDIA Grace Vera patch support — both for the first 6 months and then ongoing. Forwarded NVIDIA patch list to Nathan for SWAG assessment. Nathan estimated 3-6 months for RLC, faster for CLK 6.18. Communicated requirements to Scott Hara: hardware access, test suites, functional and performance targets.
People: Nathan Blackham, Scott Hara, Greg Kurtzer, Bjorn Hovland
Google Meeting Communication Coaching for Brady/Nathan
Apr 9, 2026 · strategy · high85% confidence
Directed Brady and Nathan on exactly how to communicate during the Google GDC follow-up call — present CIQ as calm, capable, and dedicated; don't volunteer unnecessary details; distinguish technical infeasibility from resource constraints. Personally bookended the engineering meeting with success criteria. Chose to keep GDC post-mortem attribution under Peter's name rather than crediting others.
People: Brady Dibble, Nathan Blackham, Kelly Hall, Max Spevack
FIPS Delivery Contingent on Google Commercial Commitment
Apr 8, 2026 · strategy · high89% confidence
Peter stated CIQ needs to make clear to Google soon that FIPS delivery depends on either getting a revenue ramp projection or a new contract. Google can't have the deliverable without the commercial commitment. This came after Bjorn reported Google's Madhu is delaying projection estimates and 'feels like they are trying to exert leverage.'
People: Bjorn Hovland, Kelly Hall, Max Spevack
Value Driver Consolidation from ~50 to ~3 Core Drivers
Apr 8, 2026 · strategy · high80% confidence
Peter demanded that the current list of ~50 'value drivers' be reduced to ~3 core, company-wide drivers that articulate CIQ's mission and differentiation. Called the current list a 'shotgun approach' and 'pile of stuff' that prevents focus. Test: if a product's value pillars cannot be tied to these core drivers, its strategic value to CIQ should be re-evaluated. Also requested a 1-year product vision for RLCAI/RLCH from Brian Dawson.
People: Brady Dibble, Brian Dawson, Chris Baek
Taking Personal Lead on All GDC Communication for Next Month
Apr 8, 2026 · strategy · high87% confidence
Peter decided to personally lead ALL Google GDC communication for the next month, replacing the current multi-voice approach. New framing: 'we are technically capable; let's discuss the contract' instead of 'we can do it if you pay us.' All GDC work must be categorized into two buckets: work CIQ would do anyway (GDC accelerates it) vs work done only for GDC.
People: Brady Dibble, Brian Dawson, Bjorn Hovland, Kelly Hall
FIPS 6.18 Option 2 Engineering Kickoff
Apr 7, 2026 · strategy · high91% confidence
After Manu at Google did not respond to the relationship reset email sent Sunday, Peter escalated the FIPS proposal to Tissa via Kelly. Tissa authorized CIQ to proceed. Peter then directed Nathan to begin engineering work on Option 2 (faster timing path) while awaiting the Atsec contract. Engineering was held in reserve until external confirmations landed to avoid thrashing.
People: Nathan Blackham, Kelly Hall, Bjorn Hovland, Brady Dibble, Tissa (Google), Manu (Google)